Movies - Termite Terrace

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	Movies - Termite Terrace

"Termite Terrace" is the nickname for an old building on Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA where Looney Tunes
animated cartoons were created from 1935 to 1937. Although it was not the first production facility for Looney Tunes, and was never used for the production of its sister series Merrie Melodies
(which were produced in a larger, adjacent building on the same lot), "Termite Terrace" later became a metonym for the classic Warner Bros. animation department in general, even for years after the building was abandoned, condemned and torn down.

Warners' cartoons were originally produced by an independent company named Leon Schlesinger Productions, which began production on the series, with Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising as the heads of production, in 1930. Harman and Ising departed to start their own studio in 1933, and Schesinger recruited a new production team to produce the films. From the mid-1930s until 1944, famous animation directors and animators such as Tex Avery, Arthur Davis, David H. DePatie, Friz Freleng, Robert McKimson, Bob Clampett, Frank Tashlin, and Chuck Jones worked their magic. In 1944, Schlesinger sold his studio to Warner Bros., who renamed the company Warner Bros. Cartoons, Inc. – By 1946, Avery, Tashlin, and Clampett had all departed, and the remaining creators carried on the Warner Bros. cartoon legacy until 1963, when Warners closed down the studio for good. Friz Freleng and business partner David H. DePatie started DePatie-Freleng Enterprises the same year, which Warners contracted to produce more Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies from 1964 until 1967. The studio briefly re-opened in 1967, before shutting down for good in 1969, when Warners ceased production on all its short subjects.

The Warner Bros. animation studio was notorious for practical jokes, eccentricity (even by the standards of the then highly eccentric animated cartoon industry) and the consistent brilliance of their pictures (and for filling the water coolers with vodka). However, the building proper was abandoned in the late 1930s - Interestingly the most popular "Termite Terrace" star, Bugs Bunny, was created after the building was no longer in use.

The Termite Terrace Hall of Fame

Studio Heads

Leon Schlesinger (1931-1945)
Eddie Selzer (1945-1956)
John Burton (1957-1961)
David DePatie
(1961-1963)
William L. Hendricks (1967-1969)

Directors

Tex Avery
Bob Clampett
Cal Dalton
Arthur Davis
Friz Freleng
Ben "Bugs" Hardaway
Hugh Harman
Rudolf Ising
Chuck Jones
Norm McCabe
Robert McKimson
Frank Tashlin

Designers and Writers

John W. Dunn
Warren Foster
Robert Givens
Robert Gribbroek
Michael Maltese
Maurice Noble
Tedd Pierce
Hawley Pratt

Animators

Ken Harris
Robert Cannon
Rod Scribner
Richard Thompson
Ben Washam
Lloyd Vaughn
Gerry Chiniquy

Voices

Music

Milt Franklyn
William Lava
Eugene Poddany
Carl Stalling

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Termite Terrace ]

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